I spent last evening out in Pasadena at Vroman's Bookstore, which is a business of a kind that is fast becoming extinct: A real bookstore. I mean, they have actual books printed on paper there and everything, including a staff that loves selling books almost as much as they themselves enjoy reading them.
Last night, they had a signing party for my longtime friend Paul Dini, who has an important and amazing new graphic novel out. It's called Dark Night: A True Batman Story. Here's an Amazon link to order a copy if you can't get out to Vroman's, and this is a book I'm sure you'll hear a lot about.
Once upon a time, my friend Paul was mugged. He was walking home from a date and two big guys decided for no visible reason to beat the crap out of him. He went through a long, emotional recuperation process both physically and mentally. I knew Paul then and I thought (note the past tense) I knew what he went through…but I didn't imagine it was this bad.
What does Batman have to do with this, apart from the fact that it would have been nice if he'd been around to stop the beating? Well, Paul was writing Batman at the time — the animated series and some comic books. And since Paul's the kind of writer who really throws himself into his work, it was impossible to stop Batman and his supporting cast from reflexively entering his life during this period. You'll have to read the graphic novel — perfectly illustrated by Eduardo Risso — to understand how those two realities fused for Paul and how one affected the other but it's a pretty jarring — but ultimately redeeming — tale.
At the signing party, they had me introducing Paul and interviewing him for a while before a packed, standing-room-only turnout. Then came the autographing. The line was so long — I think the last person waited something like two and a half hours — that many of the folks waiting for Paul's signature read the book while waiting. You could see them hit certain sections of the story and glance towards Paul across the room…and you could hear them thinking, "That happened to him?" I think it was reassuring to them on several levels that Paul seemed so fully recovered and complete as a human being.
It was an exciting event — no surprise since it's an exciting book. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.